Lara Trump’s statement Monday on the radio show The Breakfast Club that she has never heard her father-in-law say anything racist drew a laugh from co-host Charlamagne tha God.
Trump, the co-chair of the Republican National Committee, was asked to respond to the well-supported allegations that Donald Trump–who has been questioning Vice President Kamala Harris’ race–is racist.
“That‘s ridiculous. I’ve known this man for sixteen years,” she said, after co-host DJ Envy mentioned how the former president and his father were sued in the 1970s by the Department of Housing Development for rental discrimination against Black people, and how Trump called for the death penalty for the Central Park Five.
“There was never any proof of anything with the houses; they settled that. There was no admission of anything there,” Trump said about the former. She then glossed over how her father-in-law has never backed away from his statement regarding the Central Park Five–even after they were exonerated. (The group on Monday sued the former president for defamation.)
“Donald Trump was really beneficial to the Black community when he was in the White House. I will say I’ve never seen this man say a racist thing,” she said, eliciting a chuckle from Charlamagne.
Trump took offense.
“Why is that funny, Charlamagne?” she asked.
“It‘s hysterical,” he replied, “because people act like there‘s no such thing as Google, or we don’t have TV or we don’t have radio.”
Trump continued:
“This is a man who was beloved by so many people in this country, and he was friends with everybody. Jesse Jackson, by the way… [Trump] let them stay rent-free in one of his buildings–the Rainbow Coalition–because he felt like at the time that was a very important thing.”
Trump then mentioned how her father-in-law signed a bipartisan bill providing $250 million annually in funding for historically Black colleges and universities, as well as the First Step Act, which focused on sentencing reform and prison reform.
From there, Charlamagne asked Trump how he expects minorities like Mexicans, Haitians and muslims to just “ignore” his dangerous smears against them. Trump insisted that the presidential candidate is against anyone coming into the country illegally, regardless of their background.
“If you‘re an American citizen, Donald Trump doesn‘t care [about] your religion. He doesn’t care what you look like,” she claimed.